In the beginning Dag Hammarskjolds' personal representative in the Congo had been Dr. Ralph Bunche, an American Negro serving as Under Secretary of the U.N. But when Bunche failed in his attempt to get the Congolese to accept the Communist-dominated regime of Patrice Lumumba, he was replaced. The replacement turned out to be a U.N. official named Rajeshwar Dayal of India. Dayal had functioned for only a short time when President Kasavubu became equally alarmed with his policies. By January, 1961, Kasavubu had written two letters to Dag Hammarskjold begging the U.N. to remove Dayal because of his strong "partiality."
During the latter part of 1960 and the early part of 1961, the violence of Lumumba's forces continued to spread havoc in the central and northern sections of the Congo. Press dispatches told of the raping of nuns and other atrocities against whites. Then in early February, 1961, it was suddenly announced that Lumumba had escaped from Katanga and was believed to be heading back toward the central Congo to join his forces. Because Lumumba was the principal voice for both Communism and violence the Premier of the Katanga Province put a high price on Lumumba's head. A few days later it was announced that Lumumba had been caught and killed by Congolese natives.
Immediately a cry of outrage came rumbling forth from Moscow and a storm of protest emanated from the U.N. President Kasavubu and Moise Tshombe could not understand why U.N. Secretary, Dag Hammarskjold, insisted on being so sentimentally concerned over Lumumba after the terrible blood bath he had inflicted on the Congo.
The Congolese were also amazed when Hammarskjold tried to force President Kasavubu to set up a Communist coalition government. This was exactly the way each of the East European nations had been trapped into becoming Soviet satellites. Tshombe was further outraged when U.N. officials tried to force him to terminate all relations with the Belgians and discharge his Belgian advisors. Tshombe accused Dag Hammarskjold of trying to drive out the Belgians so a U.N. power grab could be achieved. This actually took place in September, 1961. Dag Hammarskjold engineered an attack on Katanga with U.N. troops which temporarily forced Tshombe from the government. Tshombe was replaced by the right hand man of Communist leader, Antoine Gizenga.
However, Tshombe rallied the people under the battle cry of "Liberty or Death!" and the resistance to the U.N. conquest began. It was then that Dag Hammarskjold flew to Africa to negotiate a cease-fire before the U.N.-sponsored regime was overthrown. Enroute to Katanga, the U.N. plane crashed and Dag Hammarskjold was killed. In Washington, D.C., Senator Thomas A. Dodd told the U.S. Senate that Hammarskjold's campaign had been turning the whole Congo into a Communist camp. He charged that the State Department had made a monumental blunder in using American money to back the U.N. conquest of the Congo.17
During all of this excitement many Americans thought the U.N. was actually trying to protect the Congo from a Communist take-over. They drew this conclusion from the fact that Khrushchev had been violently criticizing Hammarskjold's program in the Congo. Now it appeared that the fight between Khrushchev and Hammarskjold was not on the issue of a Communist take-over since they had both been pushing for one. Their dispute was to determine who would control the Communist regime once it was in power.
____________________
1. The Crimes of Khrushchev, House Committee on Un-American Activities, September 1959, Part 2, pp. 1-2.
2. The Crimes of Khrushchev, House Committee on Un-American Activities, 1959, Part 3, p. 12.
3. "How a Free Nation Was Killed," U.S. News & World Report, November 16, 1956, p. 94.
4. Preamble of the U.N. Charter.
5. The Bang-Jensen case is treated fully in a recent book, Betrayal At the U.N., by DeWitt Copp and Marshall Peck, Devin-Adair, 1961.
6. "Russia's Growth Under Communism Less Rapid," by Dr. Warren Nutter, U.S. News & World Report, November 2, 1959, p. 75.
7. "Russian Plan Cuts Down Schooling," U.S. News & World Report, October 3, 1959.
8. "Why Russia Is in Trouble," U.S. News & World Report, February 25, 1955, p. 58.
9. "Russ Admit 50 Percent Drop in Farm Output," Los Angeles Examiner, January 11, 1961.
10. The Crimes of Khrushchev, House Committee on Un-American Activities, 1959, Part 1, p. 3.
11. The Crimes of Khrushchev, House Committee on Un-American Activities, 1959, Part 1, p. 3.
12. "U-2 Making the Points," Newsweek June 12, 1960, p. 38.
13. "Arms Chief Weighs U-2 Future," U.S. News & World Report, June 27, 1960, p. 45.
14. "The World's Big Spy Game," U.S. News & World Report, May 23, 1960, p. 47.
15. Congressional Record, April 29, 1954, p. 5708.
16. Paris Report of Hilaire Du Berrier, September 1960, p. 1.
17. The four speeches of Senator Thomas A. Dodd have been published in a pamphlet by the Government Printing Office. It is called The Crisis in the Congo (1961).
Chapter Eleven
The Communist Conquest of Cuba
Now we turn our attention to Cuba.
During 1960, while the world was focusing attention on events in the Congo, a far more serious development was taking place just 90 miles from the shores of the United States. For many months shocked Americans had been watching Fidel Castro completely destroy his pretended image as the "George Washington of Cuba" and triumphantly portray himself in his true role as a hard-core Communist conspirator.
Everything Lumumba would have done in the Congo, Castro actually accomplished in Cuba: drumhead justice, mass executions, confiscation of industry, collectivization of the land, suspension of civil rights, suspension of democratic processes, alliances with the Iron Curtain. All these became the trade marks of the Castro regime.
To millions of Americans this was bitterly disappointing. They had read Herbert Matthews' pro-Castro articles in the New York Times and watched prominent TV personalities portray Castro as the savior of Cuba.
As a matter of research, however, there was no real excuse for missing Fidel Castro's Communist connections, For years he had been clearly identified with their leaders, their insurrections, their ideology and their plans. And even if all of this evidence had been absent, the official records of the Havana and Bogota police departments should have told the most casual observer that Fidel Castro was certainly no pillar of hope for Cuba. Even before he graduated from law school his checkerboard career included such crimes as assault with a deadly weapon, arson, insurrection and murder,
Who Is Fidel Castro?
Fidel Castro is one of five illegitimate children born to a servant woman on the sugar plantation of Fidel's wealthy father, Angel Castro.1 Biographers point out that his early upbringing was not particularly conducive to promoting the best qualities in a human personality.
When Fidel was sent to secondary school he turned out to be a mediocre student with an aggressive, ambitious and rebellious nature. He was not well liked at the school and to overcome his lack of popularity he decided to impress the students by mounting a bicycle and riding it full tilt into a high stone wall. This accident left him unconscious for days. Some authorities have wondered if he really ever recovered.
At 16 he obtained a gun and tried to kill a teacher because of an argument over poor grades. By the time Castro was 19, he had determined to become a lawyer. To achieve this, his father sent him to the University of Havana. Almost immediately, however, he identified himself with the most radical element on campus and joined a group of beatniks who prided themselves in being unshaven and unclean. Castro is still remembered at the University of Havana by his nickname of "Bola de Churre" -- Ball of Dirty Grease.
Castro told Diaz Balart (who later became his brother-in-law) that he intended to become studentbody president and then use his prestige to agitate the students into a revolutionary force which would ultimately make him the political leader of Cuba. But his jealous ambition did not make him studentbody president. Instead, it led him to engineer his first attempt at murder in 1947.
The victim was Leonel Gomez, the popular studentbody president of Havana Hi
gh School #1. For "political reasons" Castro shot him through the chest with intent to kill. Fortunately the boy recovered. Castro, however, expected him to die and fled from the city to join a Communist-directed expedition which was training to invade the Dominican Republic and overthrow Trujillo. Before the expedition was launched Castro heard that Gomez had recovered and therefore felt it was safe to return to the University.
Castro's Second Attempt at Murder Is Successful
By 1948 Castro had gained considerable confidence in his own political prospects and was determined that nothing should stand in the way. He had made himself the head of a University terrorist organization and on February 22, 1948, he used machine guns to kill the ex-President of the University Student Federation and a friend named Carlos Pucho Samper. Two others were wounded. Castro was arrested for this murder but the investigation had not been thorough and he was able to get released. It is also suspected that the judge was influenced by the fact that one of Castro's confederates was the nephew of the Cuban President.
A short time after this he left for Bogota, Columbia. Castro's student activities had brought him to the attention of Soviet agents who were looking for young firebrands to lead out in the subversion of Latin American countries. Castro was ordered to go to Bogota and take Rafael del Pino with him. In view of his recent brush with the law it seemed an excellent time to be taking a trip.
Castro as a Soviet Agent in the Bogota Riots
In April, 1948, the eyes of the world were watching Bogota, Colombia, where the Ninth Inter-American Conference was to be held. It was under the direction of U.S. Secretary of State, George C. Marshall. This occasion was chosen by the Soviet strategists to stage a Communist-directed insurrection. It was to unseat the conservative government of Colombia and break up the Inter-American Conference.
Alberto Nino, Security Chief of Colombia, published a book in 1949 on the insurrection. He has much to say about Fidel Castro. Nifio describes how Castro and Rafael del Pino were put under surveillance the moment they arrived at the airport: "These two men came as replacements for two Russian agents stationed in Cuba, whose plans were known and who were expected by the Colombian police. Instead these two came.... Before the 9th of April, a telegram was taken from them announcing the arrival of one of the Russians."2
Nino and his men found that the planned insurrection was not being led by the Communist Party of Colombia but by a group of "international Communists" who worked out of the Soviet legation in Bogota. There were nine of these international Communists who fronted for the Soviet apparatus. Fidel Castro and Rafael del Pino were two of the nine.
When the insurrection struck it was triggered by having Communist agents kill Dr. Jorge Gaitan, the most popular political leader in Colombia. Communist handbills, printed in advance, blamed the murder on the Government and urged the people to avenge themselves by sacking the city. Within an hour Bogota was converted into a holocaust of violence and flaming devastation.
Nino found that the Soviet apparatus had arranged to have a crew move through the city ahead of the mob smashing off locks and opening stores and warehouses. After the mob had looted the buildings, another crew went through spraying gasoline on floors and walls. The last stage was to have trained arsonists methodically burn these structures which ultimately gutted the center of the city.
When it was all over the "destruction of the civic center was complete." The Palace of Justice which contained most of the civil and criminal records was demolished to its foundations. Colleges, churches, stores and other public buildings were burned. Altogether 136 major buildings were destroyed representing a loss of more than $21,000,000. After the battles between the police and the mobs had subsided more than 1,000 corpses were left lying in the streets.
Some of Castro's biographers have tried to gloss over Castro's complicity in this terrible destruction but the files of the Bogota police state that detectives secured a "carnet, which the office of Detectives now has in its possession, with a photograph of the two Cubans, identifying them as first-grade agents of the Third Front of the USSR in South America."3
It was further discovered that Castro and del Pifio were apparently the ones assigned to arrange the murder of Jorge Gaitan. Their activities became so completely exposed that President Perez went on a nationwide broadcast to denounce the two Cubans as "Communist leaders in the insurrection."
When it became obvious that the insurrection had failed, Castro and del Pino left quickly for Cuba.
Castro Commits His Third Murder
Castro had barely returned, however, when he learned that Sgt. Fernandez Caral of the Havana Police had been carefully investigating the machine gun murders which occurred earlier in the year and now had positive evidence that Castro was responsible. Castro immediately rounded up his associates and when they saw an opportunity, they killed Caral on July 4, 1948.
A police net was thrown out over the city. That same day Fidel Castro was arrested and charged with the murder. But now the police had a chance to see what kind of influence Castro possessed. They soon discovered that the witnesses to the murder were so intimidated by fear of reprisal from Castro's terrorist organization that none of them would testify. Once again the authorities were forced to release Castro and he promptly scurried away into hiding.
From this point on, Castro moved through the seething revolutionary underground of Cuba as a force to be reckoned with.
By 1948 the sensational disclosures of Whittaker Chambers, Elizabeth Bentley and a host of defected American Communists had exposed Russia's world-wide conspiracy to Sovietize all humanity. As a result, a strong wave of anti-Communist sentiment was rising everywhere. Up and down the Western hemisphere Communists were being instructed to run for cover and do their work through "fronts."
In Cuba, Fidel Castro decided to ally himself with the Orthodox Party which was a reform movement led by Eddie Chibas. Eddie Chibas soon detected something wrong with Castro and warned his associates that Castro was not only Communistic but had propensities for violent revolution of the gangster variety. This warning blocked Castro from gaining further power in the leadership of the party but he still was allowed to remain a member.
The Batista Regime in Cuba
By 1952 it was time for another general election, and, as usual, revolutionary activity was threatening on every hand. Candidates were being physically attacked and some blood had been spilled. In the Cuban Army it was beginning to get around that some of the political factions were thinking of using the Army to seize power and restore order General Fulgencio Batista suddenly decided to seize Cuba's political reigns and restore order himself.
In order to evaluate the Batista coup it is necessary to appreciate that never for any appreciable time since Cuba won her independence has she enjoyed genuine democracy or stable self-government. Her political history has been a tragic composite of illegal elections, assassinations, inefficiency in government, graft, nepotism, intimidation and dictatorships. Although popular elections have been held, these have nearly always been so corruptly and fraudulently conducted that it was never certain whether the "elected" officials were actually the people's choice. Defeated candidates often became the leaders of revolutionary parties seeking to seize control. This would lead to dictatorial reprisal by the party in power, and thus the political pendulum would swing between the "ins" and the "outs" with popular uprisings and military suppression following each other in quick succession.
As for as General Batista was concerned, 1952 was not the first time he had used the Army to seize power and establish order in Cuba. Back in 1933-34 he had quelled civil strife long enough to have a new president put in office; but when the people were not satisfied with this or any other candidate for president, he finally had himself elected in 1940. A new constitution was adopted in 1940, but when the general election was held in 1944, Batista's candidate was defeated.
The Batista regime was followed by two extremely corrupt, graft-ridden administrations which once more des
troyed confidence in the democratic processes. By 1952 these politicians were also destroying the stability of Cuba's economy. Batista was a candidate for president himself but felt the elections would be a fraud and civil war would result; therefore he considered the circumstances sufficiently critical to justify his taking over again and re-establishing a temporary military government.
There was a cry of outrage both in the United States and Cuba as Batista suspended the elections and dissolved the congress. Nevertheless, he forged ahead with a four-pronged program:
1 -- stabilizing Cuba's economy through diversified agriculture and accelerated industrial development;
2 -- strengthening economic and political ties with the United States;
3 -- resisting Communism, and